She said her husband's escape from death was the result of their strong faith in God.

"We had left for our plantation early morning on Thursday but I returned before midday," she said.

"It was raining but we didn't expect that it would flood all of a sudden.

"I tried to find a way to tell him to return but I couldn't because he was on the other side of the village."

Mrs Raitukutuku said with the help of a few other villagers, they managed to yell out to her husband to swim down to the other village, Naivurevure, instead of risking his life to cross the rising floodwaters.

Despite all this, Mr Raitukutuku managed to pick up bits and pieces of ginger they had left on their farm to travel to Suva early yesterday morning for the market.

"He just came back to the village this morning (yesterday) when the water receded.

"We couldn't even save any of our belongings but I just thank God that my husband is alive.

"That's all I wanted and I'm happy that he's back with me because we don't have any children."